Nuclear molecular motors for active, directed chromatin movement in interphase nuclei

Abstract

The nucleus is a highly organised organelle that contains structural elements which interact and control the genome. A few studies have started to undercover a role for actin and myosin isoforms, found in the nucleus, as nuclear motors that actively move individual gene loci, clusters of genes and whole chromosomes within the nucleoplasm. This chapter reviews these few studies, discusses the presence of proteins potentially part of acto-myosin nuclear motors and asks where these studies should aim to head in the future.